Call Me
by Lizardbeth J
Summary: Once, her boyfriend not calling to say he'll be late would've been annoying. Now, it's worrying.


**note**: This was written as part of a ficlet fest, a few weeks ago, and so it's set before 'Kill or Be Killed'. The prompt was of Nina looking at her phone, and it's a short fluffy romantic piece.

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Elena sat alone at the small table in the Grill and called Stefan. When his voicemail picked up, again, she stabbed the button to end the call and stared at the phone, wishing she had Bonnie's powers and she could will him to call her back.

_Stefan, where are you?_

It was unlike him to be late, and the phone showed her that he was fourteen minutes tardy. Not, she reminded herself, that she needed him every second of every day. But usually he'd call if he'd been caught up in something and was going to be late.

Her iced tea came and she sipped at it, trying not to check the time again or watch the front doors. Five minutes passed very slowly, and her stomach started to get queasy with anxiety. What if something had happened? The Salvatore mansion was open to anyone who wanted to enter. What if Katherine was there with him, or some other enemy? Mason Lockwood? Even a human could get into the mansion, since the brothers rarely bothered to lock it.

Elena picked up her phone again and sent him a text, "Where R U? U OK?" After she sent it, she regretted it, imagining Stefan tied up in the basement and Katherine reading it to him to mock her worry.

If it had been anyone else but Stefan, she'd just be mad that he was standing her up. But with Stefan, twenty minutes late and no call meant something was wrong. She wasn't going to wait around anymore.

She grabbed a couple of dollars from her wallet and put them down on the table to pay for her drink. She'd drive over to the mansion and make sure he was okay. She shouldn't borrow trouble until she knew for sure. Maybe Damon had stolen his phone to be annoying.

Her phone vibrated on the table, just as she reached to pick it up, startling her. The text was Stefan. "_Outside_."

She rushed outside, looking all around on the sidewalk and the parking lot. "Stefan!" she called.

"Here," she heard faintly. He was in the alley on the west side of the building, standing, but slumped against the wall. She rushed up to him. There was blood all over his t-shirt, and he had one hand on the wound in his stomach and one hand still clutching his phone. "Oh my god, what happened?" she demanded.

His smile was faint but rueful. "One guess."

"Again? That bitch." Elena pulled some ratty tissues out of her jacket pocket to wipe at the blood. The wound looked raw and icky, but luckily most of the bleeding has slowed to a trickle. "What did she use?"

Stefan's head nodded downward to the left, where there was a broken mop or broom handle. The end of it was bloodied.

"It'll heal, but I need to eat." He closed his eyes, looking pale and exhausted.

"I'll call Caroline in a minute and ask if she can get you something." Elena brushed his cheek with her left hand gently.

He turned his head to kiss her palm, then forced a little smile, trying to joke, "She ruined another shirt; it's pissing me off."

She let that pass, not diverted from the problem. "We need to stake her, Stefan. She's crazy and she's not going to give up. I'm afraid she'd going to do something worse to you."

"I'm not strong enough to fight her," he admitted heavily. "Damon's not strong enough. I'm not sure both of us, even if I went back on human blood, would be enough to take her."

Her breath seemed to freeze in her chest. He'd been thinking about it. "No," she said adamantly. "Not humans. I think it's what she wants; she wants to provoke you into drinking so you'll lose control and do something you regret."

He nodded, wearily, and she didn't like how he seemed so defeated. As if he couldn't do anything to fight her at all, when physical strength was only part of it. "Hey," she said, and waited until his eyes opened to look at her curiously. "There are other ways. Uncle John killed Pearl, and he didn't have anything but the element of surprise and a stake."

"And a ring that made him unkillable," Stefan pointed out, but with a genuine smile, lightening up.

"Okay, and a magic ring," she allowed, smiling back. "Maybe I could borrow it from Jer."

He opened his mouth, likely to object or to agree with her idea of getting Jeremy's ring, but instead of speaking, his arms went around her and pulled her close, his head resting against hers. "We'll find a way to get rid of her," he promised in a low murmur. "We have to find out what she really wants though."

_She wants you_, Elena thought but didn't say. Stefan wasn't **all **Katherine wanted, she knew that, but he was part of it. Maybe she wouldn't still want him if Elena didn't have him, but Elena had known girls like that who couldn't bear to see their toys being played with by other girls. Throw in the creepy look-alike business, and Elena felt sure it was jealousy and possessiveness. But Katherine wasn't a garden-variety stalker, and she was going to need something more than a restraining order to keep her away from Stefan. Elena fully intended to give it to her in return for tormenting both of them like this.

Elena tucked her hands around him tightly, knowing she couldn't stay there too long. His skin was cool against hers, and she didn't want to make her nearness too much of a struggle for him when he was hungry.

But for the moment, she stayed in his embrace, and they leaned on each other.

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end.


End file.
